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Pathways to Professionalism continues to up-skill hotel head staff

26 Jun 2018

Pathways to Professionalism continues to up-skill hotel head staff

Professionals from four and five-star hotels in Amman and the Dead Sea became certified master trainers under the Pathways to Professionalism Scheme (P2P) this month. USAID BEST provided training for heads of training departments at participating P2P hotels as part of continuous efforts to instill the needed skills to mentor and instruct Pathways participants in-house to maintain high service standards and offer hotel staff and opportunity to develop their careers.

As master trainers, these staff are now equipped with the knowledge and responsibility to make sure P2P runs smoothly at their hotels. Master trainers prepare departmental trainers, administer and oversee assessments and are mentors to learners and a resource for the administration team.

The Century Park Hotel has recently joined Pathways to Professionalism and has had its first master trainer qualified in June. According to the hotel’s general manager, Mr. Vatche Yergatian, “It is important to train master trainers so that they can lead department trainers in food and beverage, housekeeping and kitchen.”

The Pathways to Professionalism scheme is a labor market initiative that responds to the challenges faced by Jordan’s hospitality industry in employing skilled workers.

“This program enhances the knowledge of the staff and makes them more qualified and comfortable in performing their job,” said Mr. Yergatian. It also empowers hotel employers, such as Mr. Yergatian to recruit, select, and train employees on-the-job to perform to the highest quality in their position. USAID BEST assists hotels in training their staff to be able to effectively implement P2P and draw more learners to enroll.

Pathways to Professionalism was designed by USAID BEST, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Vocational Training Corporation. USAID BEST developed education materials and continues to provide training for staff and employees. To date, 26 hotels have adopted Pathways to Professionalism. Within these hotels 48 master trainers have been trained, in addition to 50 coordinators, 152 departmental trainers and 131 internal examiners.

While Century Park Hotel has only recently adopted Pathways, Mr. Yergatian explained that, “Employees are becoming more and more aware and enthusiastic about the program and willingness to enroll is definitely growing."